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wils1354: November 2012 Archives

In researching Luis Valdez I have found a term that I have been thinking a lot about. The term is the "vendido". The vendido can be found in many of Luis Valdez's plays. The vendido represents someone of Chicano decent who has been raised in American culture. This term my represent someone who is from Chicano decent but cannot speak Spanish, for example. I find this extremely interesting because the vendido is someone who has forgotten these things on purpose. The point of the vendido is to blend into Anglo American society; the point is to forget the Chicano culture all together. This is very important to me as it is a modernization of colonialism in a way. It may not be an extreme example, but I think it is a fitting one. It shows that oppression certainly has not stopped. I want to find more examples of the vendido in Valdez's work. I want to discuss the performance of whiteness still as a side comment and mention the Vendido as a performance. I looked up vendido on urban dictionary and it said it was "basically the brown version of uncle Sam". That definition alone is suggesting a Chicano in a white performance roll. There are many examples of vendido in Valdez's texts. I also find it interesting that the Spanish translation of vendido literally means "sold"- I look at it as to "sell out". The vendido is a white Chicano sell out. And I think there is a lot to be dissected in that.